“The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD” ( Proverbs 19:3).
Harsh words indeed, but ones we need to pay attention to. People like to rage against God for all the bad things that happen in this life, but the reality is that our own foolishness causes most of our trouble. God created us and He knows how we are to live. When we choose to ignore God’s ways and give in to the lusts of the flesh—that’s when trouble happens. That is just foolishness on our part.
Mankind has foolishly and purposely perverted his own way. The Hebrew word translated into English as “perverteth” is “sâlaph” which means: to twist, pervert, distort, overturn, ruin. Ruin, that’s the one. Man ruins his own way, his own path…his own moral character.
For example, it was in the Garden of Eden that God set the standard for marriage. That standard is one man and one woman in a monogamous relationship called marriage. You might say it was easy for Adam and Eve because there were no other people around. Does that matter? Not a whit. God gave the example and no amount of temptation should sway us.
Yet, in this fallen world we have sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, children raised with only one parent in the home, children caught in the middle of strife between divorced parents, people living together with no thought to morality, “one night stands” and the list goes on. When heartache results from perverting our own ways, God gets blamed. Mankind blatantly defies God “and his heart fretteth against the LORD.” How can we be such fools?
Man’s heart becomes corrupt by his own means. Then when the result of sin is manifest in us and disease ravishes our health we blame God. Sin is a choice and God has clearly told us what is a sin and what is not. Anger, hatred, malice, and contempt against the God of all Creation are contrived from a human mindset that the Creator God should have done things differently. He should have made it easier for us to do what is right in our own eyes without penalty. Simple? He did make if very simple in the beginning. Adam was given only one rule:
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17).
When that rule was broken all of creation fell. It should be obvious that God’s ways are best, but we still rebel against Him today and try to do things our own way.
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15).
Man sees things very differently than God. In most cases what God abhors, man adores. God’s ways have become a bone of contention in the minds of many and thus irrelevant to daily life and choices. It is foolish to consider God as irrelevant, but mankind has become so stiff-necked and hardhearted that God has been relegated to a position of obscurity.
That is somewhat like buying a new car and ignoring the owner’s manual. The manual says to change your oil after a certain number of miles…will it matter if you ignore that direction? The manual says to use gasoline, but you want to use diesel fuel. Does that make a difference? The manufacturer knows what’s best and those instructions need to be followed. If things go wrong and you haven’t followed the instructions how can you blame the manufacturer?
Fools have come up with an idea that over the course of millions of years—life evolved. Yes, they have thrown out the owner’s manual…God’s Word. The Bible is looked at as a collection of myths, fables, and allegories. Because of this lie the rules have been thrown out and all manner of misfortune has caused man to rage against God. Yet, it isn’t God who causes the trouble…it is Man’s foolish rebellion. What will it take to change the mind of the foolish?
“Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him” (Proverbs 27:22).
God knows us well. All Scripture is God breathed and Solomon was inspired to write these words. The word “bray” is one that needs to be understood in modern language. It comes from the Hebrew word “kathash” and means “to pound, mix by pounding, pound fine, bray.”
We’re told in the above proverb that even if we pound a fool with a pestle like we grind wheat, his foolishness will not depart from him. God doesn’t pound us or grind us when we sin, but our own foolishness causes the pain. We cannot rebel against God’s rules then rage at Him when our own sin pounds us with the wages of that sin.
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good” (Psalm 14:1).
When God is deemed not to exist then His Word is rejected. When that happens there is not standard of right or wrong. Only a fool would reject God, but we can look all around us and see the result of that rejection. Abominable things are all around us. Beheadings, cannibalism, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, school shootings, mall shootings, genocide, holocaust…the list of abominable things is without end. If people would stop rejecting God we would have less heartache.
The obvious things of God continue to plague the foolishness of Man. Yet the fool says in his heart there is no God. Why? We begin teaching our children at a very young age there is not God (years of government run public school systems around the world) and yet we ask ourselves, “Why do these foolish people deny God?” That’s what they’ve been taught. One hour of truth on Sunday morning will not undo five full days of government propaganda.
“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15).
The foolishness of unbelief needs to be eliminated from our children when they are young. When a child is taught foolishness and lies, adulthood will be one of pure rebellion to God. If a child is taught the lie that he “evolved” from pond scum, then how can there be any moral truth? Only God can establish morality.
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
Parents, you have a responsibility. Teach your children truth.
Satan is man’s worst enemy. Always has been, always will be. Satan has proved himself over and over to be a liar. It was true in the Garden of Eden and it is true today and people believe his lies. Those lies may seem like fun, but thanks to those who listen to them we have people like Hitler who have no problem murdering people just because they are Jews.
We have scientists who think it is wise to cross human DNA with sheep and cows. We have people who think homosexuality is just a choice, yet AIDS is an epidemic. It is astounding that instead of believing God, mankind follows their father, the devil. Colleges, universities, seminaries, many public school teachers, and most politicians advocate Satan’s lies and are openly doing what they can to turn our children away from believing in an all powerful God as Creator.
“Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish” (Isaiah 44:24-25).
Those who are wise in their own minds are always frustrated as God turns what they teach into lies. Just consider how often the scientific community has to change their lies about evolution as God confounds their purpose. God does not allow us to live in a lie. He exposes all lies. His Word contains truth and we need to study it. Write it on our hearts and in our minds. If we reject His truth we are foolish.
God bless you all,
Ron & Nathele Graham